MILITANT ATHEISM

Catalyst January/February Issue 2011

The media love conflict, so it was no surprise that the Catholic League’s response to the American Atheists billboard would generate big news.

What meant a lot to us was the enthusiastic response we received from Protestants: they wrote letters of thanks, sent checks, called to congratulate us, etc. We even heard from Jews who were happy with our riposte.

The militant response this Christmas season on the part of atheists was disturbing: they will stop at nothing in their crusade to eradicate Christmas. But at every juncture, they were met with resistance.

On December 21, Bill Donohue appeared on the Fox News Channel to discuss his response to a study which showed that those who do not celebrate Christmas often suffer emotional harm in the workplace. Donohue told them “to get over it” and stop the whining. Everyone is excluded from some holiday, he said, and if some can’t take it, they should seek professional help.

Pope Benedict XVI has spoken eloquently about the twin evils of our time—radical secularism and religious fundamentalism. While religious extremists are a threat to our national security, radical secularists are a threat to our Judeo-Christian culture. Our billboard was designed as an appropriate cultural response to secular militancy.